Coupeville Sports

    Tiffany Briscoe, CMS volleyball ace, shows a hint of her artistic talent with this tinted self-portrait.

Toni Crebbin left too soon.

The Coupeville High School volleyball coach stepped down at the end of the season, her 20th in the Wolf program. With her second son graduating high school and two irrepressible young daughters vying for her attention, the ol’ ball coach decided to call it a day.

Right as a very promising crop of 8th grade spikers made their presence known down at the middle school level this past season. With big hitters like Tiffany Briscoe and Valen Trujillo on their way, the next Wolf coach will have a wide variety of young players who could make the jump to rumbling alongside varsity stalwarts like Hailey Hammer and Madeline Strasburg in the next few years.

Briscoe, whose younger sister Kyla played on the CMS 7th grade squad, picked up volleyball originally as something to fill in a gap in her schedule. A basketball and soccer player, she just wanted to stay busy, but quickly fell for the game.

“I honestly love everything about volleyball, but my favorite is probably outside hitting,” Briscoe said. “It’s hard to say I have a favorite because I try and dedicate myself to each sport and have the same levels of enthusiasm, but even with the short time that I’ve played, volleyball is my heart.

“I love everything about it and that’s more than I can say with most sports.”

Briscoe lists her strengths as “definitely any sort of hitting and moving my feet,” while wanting to work on her tips and ball control. Her favorite moment came during one of the Wolves’ grudge matches with Island rival Langley Middle School.

“Out of all the great moments this season, my personal favorite was our away match against South Whidbey,” Briscoe said. “We changed as a team that last game; we moved, we had control and we stuck in there, 32-30.

“Although we didn’t win, it was by far our best game, and I was so proud of myself and each of my teammates for every ball that was put back over the net,” she added.

A loud and proud fan of modern rock and screamo, Briscoe thrives on music and can usually be found listening nearly 24/7, especially when she draws. A big fan of art, she specializes in charcoals.

“Music is one of the few thing that I really love,” Briscoe said. “I’m almost always listening to it, even if it just one headphone turned down low.”

When she does head off to high school, she’ll be able to draw on the support of her family and her teammates.

“My mom and dad have really helped me, they’ve pushed me to do the very best I can and to always give 110%,” Briscoe said. “Not just with sports but with school work too. There have been countless times that I’ve wanted to just give up and take a zero, but my mom was always there reminding me that if I did that I wouldn’t play.

“Another person who has helped me through the entire season is one of my teammates, Valen Trujillo,” she added. “She always has my back, giving me pointers, helping me when I was getting too distracted, and she was always optimistic and ready for a challenge.”

Whomever the new CHS coach turns out to be, they will inherit a warrior in Briscoe.

“My goal for next season is to really lose some of the nerves I’ve had in the past,” she said. “I want to be able to get up there and be able to focus and give it my all!”